


Daemons

by nothing_doing



Category: His Dark Materials - Philip Pullman, Nikita (TV 2010)
Genre: AU, Daemons, F/M, I Tried, it doesn't all make sense, it got weird, pretty freeform, totally au
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-04-13
Updated: 2015-04-13
Packaged: 2018-03-22 15:41:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 5,033
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3734320
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nothing_doing/pseuds/nothing_doing
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>I just thought Nikita and Michael should have daemons. It kinda spiraled from there. Michael's point of view.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Intro

I have a rare daemon, I know that. Meredith is even a colour variant of a rare species. She's a Bengal tiger but she's white and black instead of orange and black.  
When I was growing up I never saw another big cat daemon, let alone another white one. So when I saw her with a snowy leopard I was stunned. Nikita is the only other person I have met with a big cat for a daemon. So when our daemons took a liking to each other right away, we both passed it off. First we told ourselves, and then later division, that the daemons were just happy to meet someone like them.


	2. Touch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nikita's daemon touches Michael. I don't think I said in the last chapter, Nikita's daemon is named Gabriel.

Gabriel first touched me years ago, when I couldn't walk and Meredith was occupied. Gabe pulled me to safety. I couldn't feel my wounds, the only thing I could feel was the overwhelming feeling of love and caring pouring out from the connection.  
I had never touched the daemons of anyone that I cared about. I had heard that the feeling was good if the people cared about each other but after Meredith was touched a couple of times by those who wished us harm, and I never wanted to inflict that on anyone. It had never occurred to me that there would be intense pleasure or pain depending on the person's feelings towards the other.  
When we got back from that mission we all met at my apartment. We wanted to be used to the connection between us and the other's daemon. I had been unable to do much of anything while in contact and Gabe had been shaking almightily as he pulled me out. If our daemons ever had to touch the other person again, we needed to be ready.  
Sitting on my floor we looked at each other with our daemons next to us. Meredith looked at me before going and licking Nikita's cheek. The instant there was contact all of us gasped. The planned lick turned into nuzzling up to Nikita in an effort to continue contact. With Gabe touching me there had been pleasure, but there had been other things going on that distracted me. Now with Mer touching Nikita I could hardly move from the intensity of the feelings.  
Gabe felt the contact through Nikita and carefully walked to me. I had the presence of mind to pat my lap before the feeling overwhelmed me again. Taking the invitation for what it was, Gabe climbed into my lap.  
Having the circle completed was like nothing I'd ever felt before. Deep within me I could feel love from Nikita, love for Nikita and love to and from the two daemons. Careful not to dislodge Gabe I shuffled closer to Nikita until we could touch.  
The four of us huddled on the floor for hours, overcome. None of us wanted to or were willing to move. Gabe, the strongest of us managed to crawl over so he was only touching Nikita, slightly breaking the loop so we could regain ourselves. Mer was next, scooching to me, fully breaking it and leaving us all slightly alone inside. Me and Nikita were left clinging to each other on the ground, refusing to let go of the physical contact until the mental feeling of alone receded.  
"We'll never get used to that." Mer spoke for all of us.  
"I think we have an effective strategy to get each other out of our heads though." Both of us have things we don't like thinking about, but when the thoughts come, it's always hard to get us out of our heads. Nikita had put together the pieces and come up with a way.  
"Not in division though." Nikita just looked at me, not even answering that.  
Gabe nosed over to Mer though and the thoughts that came through there were comforting. Everyone knew how much I feared getting her cancelled, with our connection it was hard to hide.


	3. Mer and Gabe touch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> title says it all

Mer and Gabe touch all the time, brushing by each other, nosing each other or just plain bowling each other over. It gives everyone the impression that we are sleeping together, even when we weren't. The part that really makes people think we are together is how our daemons act toward each other and then how they act toward everyone else. They were polite, speaking to other daemons, greeting them with a nod or for friends a small brush on their heads. But with each other they were uncontrollable, they always touch, and not just noses.


	4. First meetings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When Michael and Nikita first meet

When Gabriel and Meredith first met they looked at each other from across the room and slowly walked to the middle. The fact that we were in a prison yard and the fact that me and Mer weren't supposed to be there meant nothing. Me and Nikita weren't the only ones watching our daemons though so it quickly escalated. One of the other prisoners had a wolf daemon and the two of them walked towards the daemons and Nikita respectively.  
"Who's the other daemon?" The woman snarled. Other daemons who were big enough to fight filtered towards Gabe and Mer.  
"Don't know, my daemon doesn't either." Mer reached out her nose to Gabe. Then the two of them moved until they were crouching side by side. They were facing opposite ways and their entire sides were in contact.  
"Really?" The sarcasm was heavy in her voice. The woman lunged for Nikita. Nikita dodged and got in a good punch of her own but some of the others surrounding them stepped in on the woman's behalf, holding Nikita back. "I've never seen your daemon so much as touch another. Now he's like that." She gestured to behind her where Mer and Gabe had started washing each other's flanks.  
I finally realized that Mer wasn't retreating from this fight no matter what. So I walked out of my hiding place to go help Nikita. I skirted our daemons who were ignoring the hostile ring surrounding them.  
"Who are you?" The woman asked as she saw me approach. "Boyfriend? Whatever, you aren't allowed in here." I didn't answer until I got closer.  
"I'm not someone you want to run into while threatening another person." I stopped within range but far enough that they wouldn't think I was. Nikita looked at me, assessing, wondering.  
"What's that supposed to mean?" The woman was snarling again. Me and Nikita locked eyes, understanding passing between us.  
"I think you should let her go." The woman's eyebrows shot up, clearly taking in the two of us vs. the twenty or so others.  
"Reeeeeaaallllly." The sarcasm in her voice was obvious. "How do you plan on making me?" Her hand shot out and hit Nikita in the stomach.  
Nikita buckled but the others held her up. I waited a second until Nikita straightened and I heard a snarl from behind me. "Like this." Even as I talked I shot the two of them holding Nikita, in nonlethal but very painful areas, and threw Nikita a gun. Now that she was armed I could let her fend for herself. Our connection was apparent even then as we both turned to our right and knocked out the first person with a strike from the gun we were holding.  
After those first four prisoners were incapacitated the others finally got their act together and started fighting. It got messy, a few were dead, a lot knocked out and another couple had been shot. We finally turned around and saw it had been much the same with the daemons, some of the prisoner's deaths had been caused by their daemons dying.  
"Mer, you guys okay?" We started walking towards them but we were still too far to be able to see clearly what blood was theirs and what was not.  
"We're fine. This is Gabriel." Mer and Gabe finally appeared, both mostly red at this point. They stood a bit in front of us, side by side, touching.  
"I think I need a bath." It was a voice I had never heard before, Gabriel was apparently his name. "You can call me Gabe by the way."  
"You'd best leave. Thanks for the help, but you shouldn't get in trouble." Nikita was looking at me now.  
"Nikita, you're either coming with me or I'm staying with you." I gestured around. "I don't even want to think about what would happen if I left you here alone."  
"We don't need help." It was Gabe again, talking to me like that was normal somehow. He was bristling slightly at the suggestion that they needed help. "We'll be perfectly fine without you."  
"He didn't mean it like that." Mer answered for me, turning her head to lick his cheek. "He meant that it would be worse in prison after this. We've been in plenty of jails and prisons over the years, and just getting blamed for injuring another prisoner will paint a target on your back."  
"Why do you care?" Nikita looked at our Daemons, touching again.  
"Does it matter." Nikita looked at me. "Fine. I was supposed to watch you. You can see how well that went." I laughed quietly. "I guess since you've already met me, I can explain. If you want you can have a second chance. I'll take you out of here, fake your death, and you'll go back to my company and start over. Don't get me wrong, it's mostly fighting like we just did, but it's for our country." Nikita looked over at me, trying to decide whether I was crazy or not.  
"He is telling the truth." To my surprise it was Gabriel.  
"Of course he is. Michael hates lies." Meredith was back in the argument.  
"What if we agree? How do you fake my death?"  
"Honestly if you want to go I'm just going to get you out of here and let my boss worry about it." I grinned.  
"I suppose we'd best go then." Nikita grinned back at me. "Lead the way Michael."


	5. Nikita first comes to division

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> continuation of the last chapter

We got back to division just fine. On the way I explained my job to her better. I could tell she didn't like some parts and that she would see how it really was and make her own decisions. "Just know that it's a do or die kind of thing." I told Nikita, not wanting her to blame me when she found out later.  
"I guessed. Not many people would be good at all that stuff and the people who are wouldn't care about the country, that leaves threatening them to keep them in line." She surprised me with that revelation, I thought she might get mad about it.  
"I guess. Most everyone comes from death row or a life in prison sentence. We fake their deaths and bring them in." Everything I was doing was against protocol but I couldn't seem to stop. Talking to the recruits before bringing them in, joking with them, seeking their approval, none of those were things I ever did. But I could tell even without Mer's help that Nikita and Gabe are special.  
"We're really not supposed to be doing it like this." Met put our thoughts into words. "To keep from getting all of us in trouble Michael should probably knock Nikita out before we get there."  
Gabe growled quietly but at Mer's lick to the cheek he stopped. "If you really think it's necessary." Mer jumped in surprise.  
"Really?" Mer was incredulous. "You'd trust us that much?"  
"Of course." It was Nikita this time. "Generally if you really meant us harm, Mer would not be touching Gabe so much. If you've ever seen someone lie to someone else their daemons never do that." She pointed to the back seat where 2 loud daemons were wrapped around each other happily. "Generally the liar's daemon will stay by their human instead of with the other daemon."


	6. Teaching

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael teaches Nikita

When Nikita was a recruit I was still occasionally teaching the classes so I would see her then. One particularly memorable time was when a male recruit named Matt was teaching Nikita a fighting move.  
"Use your elbow like this, and twist as you do it." He stood pressed against her back and put his arm over hers to show her the elbow jab. Their daemons stood on the side of the mat, Gabe watching the humans closely and Matt's raccoon daemon turned toward Gabe trying to talk.  
Me and Mer came in to teach the class and observed Nikita's apparent annoyance that Matt was pressed against her.  
Met slunk over to Gabe and the raccoon where she smoothly walked in between the two daemons. She then proceeded to press against Gabe and lick his cheek and face continuously.  
Matt's raccoon just stared at the two of them as the daemon who wouldn't even touch her proceeded to start licking someone else, purring.  
I had just reached Nikita at this point and looked pointedly at Matt. "If you're going to teach her, teach her right." I moved Matt out of the way and took his place at Nikita's back. "Your arm should go like this and spin much faster than you were." I demonstrated with a much more cooperative Nikita.  
Matt looked over at the daemons and his shock doubled as he took in the two daemons, one of which he had never seen touch another daemon, let alone rub all over another, and the other he had never seen period.  
Even as the class was going on Mer used Gabe to demonstrate all the moves she was teaching the daemons. When Mer paired them all off she kept Gabe back to pair with her.  
I was less selective with who I used to demonstrate. Though I did pair off with Nikita instead of one of the others.


	7. Percy

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> How do daemons change their interactions with Percy

The only time we really controlled ourselves or our daemons was when we were in front of Percy. Everyone else could know because everyone else knew that either me or Nikita would kill them if they told Percy.  
A few times recruits commented on it, only once did a daemon comment. I only learned about it later from Mer who had come in at the last minute to see Gabe attacking a small squirrel.  
"The way you rub yourselves all over them we would think you were trading sexual favors for graduation." It was a daemon named Baxter, a squirrel with a nosy personality.  
"Did we ask you?" It was a snarl, issued as soon as Gabe got over the shock of the comment. "Michael and Mer are not yours to criticize."  
The squirrel grinned an unkind grin. "Are they yours? Because I'm pretty sure Michael still has seduction missions going on."  
Gabe snarled again and pounced on the squirrel. "I'm aware. But you know what they do that no one has ever or will ever do for you? They come back." Gabe's tail lashed. "Michael and Mer may do that kind of mission but when they come back they always wish they didn't have to. When they come back they always come to us as soon as they can. They always ask our forgiveness like we even need to be asked."  
"Oh yes, the forgiveness of a murderer is worth so much." The squirrel smirked with his last sarcastic response, then he went flying.  
"You think you can insult us?" Baxter went flying again, scratches left from Gabe's claws.  
Mer rammed through the door just as Gabe pounced again. "Gabe! What are you doing?!"  
"He provoked me. He insinuated that we were sleeping together." Gabe kept Baxter pinned but answered Mer's question.  
"Gabe, you still can't kill them. Percy would flip." Mer padded closer to Gabe. "Please, you need to let him go."  
"Fine." Gabe got his face right down on top of Baxter's. "You will leave us alone and never speak of this. I swear to God I will hunt you down and kill you if you so much as breathe on Mer or Michael. Leave them and us alone." He released the squirrel and watched as the squirrel skittered to his human.  
Percy would have had us killed if he knew though, so we tried to be careful.


	8. Mission

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They go on a mission

We survived devision by being awesome at our jobs and not stirring up too much trouble. Amanda and her daemon might have known but she operated apart from Percy anyways.  
When we went on missions we would occasionally get questions about Gabe and Mer.  
"Does Meredith's shape ever get in the way?" The question arrived from the wife of Nikita's mark. My job was to distract her while Nikita got what we needed from the husband. The wife had a small bird as a daemon and the husband had a weasel of some sort. I was supposed to be distracting but Mer was doing pretty good herself.  
"No. I'm just a lowly business man, so Meredith just watches those around us." My cover was that I was a small scale business man who'd had their lives saves a couple times by their daemon. "She has been difficult to keep in apartments before, I have to have my own house usually."  
"How did you end up with a tiger? I don't think I'd even seen a tiger yet by the time Mary settled." Mary was the unimaginative name of her (pigeon?) daemon.  
"We saw a few zoos early on in life. I think part of it was that Meredith just chose the scariest thing she could think of. We didn't exactly have the best childhoods." Only half of this was a lie. We had never been to a zoo at that point, but we were sometimes forced to watch documentaries while in the hospital.  
"Oh, poor dears. I think I saw you come in with another person." Her voice held a questioning tone, I knew she had seen Gabe.  
"Yes that's my friend and her daemon is a snowy leopard." Her quiet intake of breath was barely audible.  
"I've never met such big daemons." At this I finally managed to steer the conversation away from Nikita.  
"What is your daemon?" With the conversation back to mundane human things, I took a minute to listen in to Nikita's Comm.  
"Oh yes, Gabriel is wonderfully helpful in my work. I sometimes end up carrying large amounts of money around, Gabriel helps keep me safe." Nikita's voice came over the Comm and I couldn't help a tiny grin.  
Our daemons were distracting but that just meant no one would remember us.


	9. Holes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They get stuck in a hole. Cave. Thing.

Our Daemons weren't on any servers. We always made sure to scrub Division's memory and cameras for evidence of Gabe and Mer every week or so *(shoosh. The author decided that this works. Go with it)*. Our daemons were always more important then we were. If only one of us could get out, we always sent our daemon.  
With only themselves they sometimes got into some trouble but knew not to go back to Division without us and to try and conceal themselves if they could.  
Gabe especially is really good at getting out of tight spots.  
One time we were all stuck in a cave of all things. We found that if we all helped, one of us would be able to get out.  
"I suggest Gabe goes." Mer spoke up.  
"Why me?" Gabe was started by Mer's quick response.  
"Because those idiots aren't going to let both of us stay down here, and you are a boy." Mer tried to explain her reasoning.  
"What?" Me this time. I was almost as confused as the others.  
"If he goes and asks someone for help they are less likely to turn him away than me. Also I'm a colour variant and Gabe is just a normal colour for his species. I generally confuse people quite a bit." Mer's second try was slightly better but it still didn't make very much sense.  
Now I look back and see she was right, neither me nor Nikita were willing to go and leave our Daemons. Gabe over Mer made sense because people are more willing to trust girls and less likely to turn away their daemons.  
"We really should do it now, I don't think time is on our side. Gabe, are you okay with going?" Nikita was trying to move this along.  
"I'll go. Though I'd rather Mer went, knowing those two, neither is moving an inch until we're out." Gabe was of course correct. Neither me nor Mer were moving until both Gabe and Nikita were out or only a daemon could go.  
So we all climbed on top of each other and Gabe scrambled out.  
"Guys, this is a terrible plan." Gabe called down what we were all thinking.  
"Just go Gabe, we're stuck down here until help comes." Mer answered Gabe's assessment with her own.  
So Gabe left. He trotted off to go find a farm or someone who could help.  
Luckily, for once in our lives when we were trying to find help we actually found it.  
A woman was out working in her garden nearby and Gabe was able to get close without scaring her or her daemon.  
"Ma'am." Gabe was in front of her but a little ways off so as not to scare her.  
"Oh goodness, didn't see you there." The woman looked up and though startled by Gabe's size, got over it quickly.  
"Sorry to startle you. My human, our friend and his daemon are stuck in a cave." Gabe shrugged and said by way of explanation, "only one of us could get out."  
"Ah that's why you're here alone. I was wondering why it was only you." She started brushing off her hands. "Is there any rush or can I spend a few minutes finishing up?"  
"You have some time. No one is hurt and they have some food, they will be just fine until we get there." Gabe lay down in front of her to wait.  
"Ok, I was just hoping to finish planting these before we go running off."  
"That's perfectly fine. Is there anything I can do to help?" Gabe nodded towards where her daemon was struggling to move some plants around.  
"I think Randy has got it covered." She raised her voice so her rabbit daemon could hear her. "Do you want some help over there?"  
"No thank you, I like doing it myself." The daemon's voice was low but rather soft as well.  
Gabe sat and kept them company until the woman was ready to go. We later found out that her name was Mary and her daemon was named Randolf.  
Mary had to go into the house and collect various things including a flashlight as much rope as she could find and even a shovel.  
On most missions Mer and Gabe carried packs of equipment. This opportunity was no different, and we had made sure that Gabe's was empty and secure before sending him off to find help.  
Mary was able to fit almost everything in Gabe's packs though she had to be very careful not to touch him.  
They set off, Gabe tracking his own trail in order to not get lost, and reached us quickly.  
Now we had to figure out the best way to get the three of us out. Part of the problem was that the dirt kept crumbling under any weight, so Mer wasn't able to climb out and a second person couldn't just claw the rest of the way up.  
Mer was going to get out first obviously but trying to figure out how to get a big cat out of a hole and then getting two humans out of the same hole was going to take all of our combined brain power.  
In the end, to get Mer out we hooked up ropes to Gabe and then the Mer. While me and Nikita hoisted Mer up as much as we could, Gabe pulled against the ropes.  
To get me and Nikita out we then hooked those same ropes up to Nikita or I but they split between Gabe and Mer instead of one trying to do all the work.


	10. daemons and people

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Michael thoughts

I have heard rumors that most people's daemons are much smaller than them. I've also heard that no daemons are bigger than their humans.  
That last statement has always made me laugh. As little as it shows, neither me nor Nikita are very large people but to this day I have not seen a bigger daemon.  
Compared to each other they're surprisingly similar in size. If it weren't for their different coats we could almost mistake them for each other.


	11. excuses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I was the one making up excuses. For how having such noticeable daemons would work. It got stupid. I'll post it anyways though.

Percy is always worried that stories might get out, of the man and woman with the white big cats.  
I always tell him that despite how memorable they are, also totally forgettable.  
If you meet someone cool at the store and then the store is robbed, are you likely to think about the nice person you met or the guy who came in wearing sunglasses?  
Another thing we often did that let us pass under the radar was: do incredible things.  
That too seems like it would draw attention but as long as you only let a couple people see, then everyone will second guess it as well as your existence.  
If someone flies around and no one else notices, then you might remember but you would never share because you would be worried it had never happened.


	12. Birkhoff

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> They meet Birkhoff

Towards the end of our time in division, we had trouble staying apart. It might sound weird, we were separated from out daemons and me and Nikita aren't even connected that much.  
But the fact still stood. When we were out on missions the other person would always worry. When we got back from missions, as soon as we had given Percy our information, we went straight to each other.  
During briefings and meetings we always sat next to each other. Not to touch but just to Be there. In Division we didn't touch, but proximity helped too.  
Birkhoff was one of the only people who was aware of our relationship being more than friends.  
We got sent on an opp once, to go find a hacker. We were convinced that it wouldn't be much trouble but he covered his tracks well. He had hacked into various bank accounts and a couple government programs just for fun and we were expected to waltz right in and bag him.  
We followed him across the country for a week before he finally got bored. He sent us a Skype request.  
Honestly neither of us even had Skypes, he just hacked into our computer and set up a video call.  
"So what do you guys want?" His voice through the computer was a little weird.  
"We are supposed to bring you in. I believe Percy said you would be responsible for all the computer stuff at our "company”." Nikita made air quotes as I looked at her in shock. She shrugged, clearly indicating that she was tired of chasing him and that if Percy didn't like Her tactics he could shove it.  
“Really? A job offer? That’s why you’ve been chasing me all over the country?” The hacker was not amused.  
“Look.” Nikita wasn’t amused either. “I’m tired of chasing you all over the place, but we have to. Either you come with us and get an unlimited budget for computer crap, or we keep chasing you. Can you please just come in?”  
The hacker stared at Nikita for a few seconds in stunned silence. “How do I know you’re for real?”  
“What do you want for proof?” Nikita sighed it out in exasperation.  
“Daemons. I want to know about your daemons.” The hacker was quick on the uptake.  
“No. Absolutely not.” I answered quickly.  
Nikita turned to me. “Michael, I’m tired. Please? Gabe won’t mind. And you don’t even have to show yours, I’ll just show Gabe.”  
“You know that that is no better.” I hissed. “Giving up Gabe is not something I would do any more than giving up Mer is!”  
Nikita brought her hand to my face. “Michael. It’s okay. We’re bringing him in no matter what. He’ll see Gabe anyways.”  
“That’s different! You don’t know how secure this line is! Or what he could do with the information before we can get to him!” I waved exasperatedly toward the camera.  
“Hey! This connection is perfectly secure! And what would I do with information about your daemon? It’s not like anyone would care.” The voice from the computer sounded annoyed.  
“We only have your word on that. And you have no idea who we are. Our daemons would give you information you could use to find out.” My response was calm but snappy.  
“Okay, look. I only want to know about your daemons because they are what are most precious to you. If you are willing to show them, I will know that you are being truthful.” The hacker responded after a moment.  
“Michael, can I just get this over with?” Nikita looked back at me instead of the computer.  
“Guys, seriously.” Gabe came from behind us and layed across our laps. “Hi there. I’m Gabe. Who are you.” Gabe spoke to the computer.  
A slight gasp came from the computer due to Gabe’s casual touching of a human not his own. “I’m Birkhoff. Where do you want to meet?”  
Nikita looked pointedly at me. “See, wasn’t that easy Michael. Where ever is convenient for you. Would you mind scrubbing all of this video from the internet? I dislike Gabe’s picture being anywhere it could be found.” Nikita addressed the man on the computer casually.  
“Um. Sure. I’ll just text you my address and you can come pick me up.” Birkhoff sounded slightly stunned.

We brought Birkhoff back to division that day and though he wasn’t too thrilled about the work we did, he loved his budget. The three of us became close friends and we would sometimes hang out afterhours. Birkhoff got to see more of us than any other. And he was always willing to get rid of the video so others couldn’t see.


End file.
